At 11:12 AM 7/29/2008, Louise Power wrote:
That being said, I still think that there is great value in face-to-face interactions. Every convention I ever went to recharged my batteries for the next year with the energy of the people there.
And Minton said something to the effect of getting more value out of spending the time exploring caves in Mexico instead of at the Convention.
For most run-of-the-mill cavers Conventions offer a great amount of "networking" and meeting cavers whom they might never have had the chance to meet otherwise and, quite possibly, getting invited on super-caving trips in other parts of the world as a result of it (should they even be of a super-caving bent; many aren't and never will be). That is the way some cavers expand their caving horizons. For cavers like Minton whose caving horizons are already about to explode with more options and super-caving friends than he's likely to ever wear out, conventions may be blase, but for the average Joe-caver they offer a tremendous opportunity to learn about the greater world of caving and to meet important cavers and, as a result, to get smarter (again, should that be their goal). I'd think that being smarter would be reward enough. But then, setting a new world depth record (or, realistically, some lessor triumph) might hold a higher drawing card than getting smarter at a convention although Joe-caver is not likely to be the one setting any records--but maybe; odd things like that have happened before. Conventions are great places for meetings of the minds--and other parts of the body. They are a lot like caves--if you don't go see one you will never have a good handle on what the experience is like. And, like caves, each convention will be different from the other. There are similarities--but even the similarities are different.
I think the digital age comments by Bill Russell, me, and others are not so much related to conventions as to publications and the internet dissemination of information. Conventions still hold an important place in the eyeball-to-eyeball contact that has always been important to caving and caver self-improvement--meaning the quality of one's caving and cave knowledge. Many cavers seem to operate perfectly well in a vacuum so we can't appeal to them.
That's not to say that having a live web-cam convention with the papers presented live over the internet to all parts of the world might not be an interesting idea. There are a lot of cavers who can't or won't go to convention who would certainly benefit from the knowledge to be gained--albeit remotely and without the gratuitous sex.
--Ediger --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
